The event-specific symbol features what appears to be a high-five between a hand representing the US president and one representing the North Korean dictator known for executing his political enemies and exiling large swaths of his nation to prison camps, where they face starvation and torture. Pompeo brought him back to the CIA a year ago to run the Korea Mission Center that has played a central role in the run-up to the summit. North Korea is seeking a security guarantee - possibly including a peace treaty formally ending the Korean War - and the removal of the U.S.'s nuclear umbrella protecting allies South Korea and Japan.

"We will take actions to provide them sufficient certainty that they can be comfortable that denuclearisation is not something that ends badly for them", Pompeo said.

Kim was not believed to have left his hotel since a meeting with Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong soon after his arrival in the city on Sunday, but he ventured out on Monday evening.

Their first meeting will be just the two men, with their translators, without any advisers present. Trump had previously said the talks might extend beyond the first day.

10 p.m. ET Trump to participate in an expanded bilateral meeting with Kim. Trump said last week that Rodman had not been invited to the summit.

Instead, Pompeo suggested the summit, while historic, might yield little in the way of concrete success other than to pave the way for more meetings in the future. And in recent years, North Korean officials have repeatedlystated that the regime will seriously consider denuclearisation provided the United States makes security guarantees and lifts trade restrictions.

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report. That's why direct talks with North Korea never happened, he said. He did not answer the question about whether he agrees that there is a special place in hell for Trudeau.

Experts believe the North is close to being able to target the entire USA mainland with its nuclear-armed missiles, and while there's deep skepticism that Kim will quickly give up those hard-won nukes, there's also some hope that diplomacy can replace the animosity between the US and the North.

"The president of the United States might hop on his airplane and come home pretty unhappy", Mr. Gallucci, now a professor at Georgetown University, said Friday at a discussion hosted by the Center for a New American Security in Washington.

Tensions between the two countries escalated in 2017 after Pyongyang stepped up efforts to boost its nuclear weapons programme.

Just a few months ago, Kim was an global pariah accused of ordering the killing of his uncle, a half-brother and scores of officials suspected of disloyalty. The North Korean autocrat's every move will be followed by 3,000 journalists up until he shakes hands with Trump.

The two leaders have had an extraordinary up-and-down relationship over the past 18 months. On a larger level, the astronomical cost of the nuclear weapons program contributes to the massive poverty in North Korea, among the world's poorest countries.

Top members of Trump's administration have said that the North Koreans wouldn't receive any benefits before taking steps to denuclearize - wary of falling into the same predicament that doomed previous agreements with the rogue regime.

Historically, Pyongyang has wanted the U.S. to remove its "nuclear umbrella" protecting South Korea and Japan.

What has North Korea said?

That would avoid the prospect of Kim winning sanctions relief for gradual progress while remaining a nuclear power.

On Monday, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo suggested U.S. sanctions and other global pressure will continue until North Korea takes steps toward denuclearization.